WC Matches of the Day; [R] 6/9/06

[Jose Luis Luviano]

I think that Wanchope was recovering from a injury when he played for the Ticos last year in Rice Eccles.

But he scores twice against Germany in Germany and we shut him out.

That's a good sign for the US.

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by AreliusIV

Actually, its now Poland 0 : 2 Ecuador.

This is a real upset.

Scandal shifts Ecuador soccer fans' focus off field

By STEVEN DUDLEY
The Miami Herald

QUITO - Ecuador's national soccer team should be focusing on the tough matches it will face when the World Cup opens today. Instead, its members are looking over their shoulders, wondering who might be the next to fall in an embarrassing people-smuggling scandal.

The team's coordinator, Vinicio Luna, and doctor, Patricio Maldonado, are already in jail for illegally helping to obtain U.S. visas for at least two Ecuadoreans not affiliated with the team. There's an arrest warrant for team publicist, Luis Castro, and investigators here say more arrests are coming.

For its part, the Ecuadorean Soccer Federation, known by its Spanish acronym FEF, has closed ranks since the scandal broke in March. Luna and Maldonado still appear on its website as coordinator and doctor.

''There is no corruption in the FEF,'' federation President Luis Chiriboga told the local media.

As the World Cup prepares to get under way in Germany, the FEF is but one federation under fire. Match-fixing allegations have shaken Italy's soccer organization. The international soccer federation body, known as FIFA, fined Mexico's federation in 2005 because two players on the national team tested positive for steroids. And Peru's congress is investigating an embezzlement scheme by current and former federation presidents in that country.

CAST A SHADOW

The Ecuadorean scandal has cast a shadow over a team that finished third in its qualifying group behind only world powerhouses Argentina and Brazil. Its players' challenge, team captain Iván Hurtado told the local El Comercio newspaper before going to Germany, is to stay focused.

''They're going through a difficult situation,'' Hurtado said in reference to Luna and Maldonado. ``It hurts us a lot.''

Coyoterismo, as brokering illegal immigration is known here, is big business in Ecuador. About three million Ecuadoreans live abroad, most of them in the United States and many of those illegally.

They travel well-worn but dangerous paths that include long rides stuffed in ships and shipping containers. Many die. Others are caught. All of them pay handsome sums to coyotes who arrange the travel.

Given the options, going abroad with the national soccer team on an airplane with an official visa seems an attractive option. The evidence accumulated by prosecutors includes statements by would-be travelers who paid upwards of $15,000 to third parties to obtain the visas posing as coaches or players.

Two cousins, 19-year old Jairo Samaniega and 18-year-old Edwin Geovanny Santi Gonzáles, described for prosecutors in detail their visit to the United States embassy to receive their visas in February this year. The two said that Luna and Maldonado met them when they arrived, and that Luna told them to tell anyone who asked that they played for the local club team, Aucas. Aucas issued a statement to prosecutors that neither teenager is affiliated with the club.

''My cousin was to be a forward and I was defense,'' Gonzáles told prosecutors about what they would tell U.S. visa officials. In truth, Gonzáles helps build bathrooms and his cousin is a student.

Gonzáles said that when he went to answer the U.S. visa official's questions, Luna and Maldonado accompanied him and told the official that the team was trying out younger players. Both boys got their visas, but neither traveled to the United States when the scam unraveled.

FOCUS ON PRESIDENT

The investigation reaches beyond Luna and Maldonado, prosecutors say. Luna and FEF President Chiriboga have been close associates for years, although the prosecutors refused to say whether Chiriboga was a target of the investigation. Still, a special fiscal commission of Ecuador's congress has opened its own investigation into the Chiriboga's trips abroad since he became FEF president in 1998, the same year Luna started working with the federation.

Prosecutors say they will issue a decision on whether to open the next phase of the investigation into Luna on June 20, the same day the team plays host team Germany in the first round of the World Cup.

[Aerick]

Don't forget to watch the World Cup Live on ESPN2 every night recapping the days WC action.

I was at Fiddler's Elbow for the last half of the game and it was pretty fun. There were quite a few people that showed up.

I'll be there again on Monday for the US game.

[Deuce]

Ecuador was very impressive today... what a great match?

Can't wait for the England match though...
Tomorrow morning at 7am... not sure if I will venture out to watch it but I will definitely be watching...

The Three Lions will rise to it!

[Aerick]

Originally Posted by Deuce

Ecuador was very impressive today... what a great match?

Can't wait for the England match though...
Tomorrow morning at 7am... not sure if I will venture out to watch it but I will definitely be watching...

The Three Lions will rise to it!

You betcha! That's the game of the week, in my opinion!

[AreliusIV]

With Jens Lehmann goal keeping for Germany, Kahn is getting fat sitting on the bench. You can see why.